Braves in Agreement w/Alberto Callaspo

In news that broke straight from Fredi Gonzalez‘ mouth during a radio interview this afternoon, the Braves have an agreement in place to sign free agent infielder Alberto Callaspo, pending a physical, which could take a while.  The deal is for $3,000,000 with a possible extra $1 million in performance incentives (multiple sources reporting).  Callaspo made $4.875 million in 2014 as a member of the A’s.

I say “agreement in place” since it’s not entirely clear when the signing might actually take place.  Over the past couple of days, John Hart has been a bit coy about such matters since his 40-man roster is bulging at the seams.  Were he to add both Callaspo and Cuban player Dian Tuscano, that would give Atlanta 41 players.  So somebody has to go – soon.  We’ll get to that a bit later.

Meanwhile, back to Albert

Callaspo is a 31-1/2-year-old Venezuelan and has been in the majors on a full-time basis since 2009.  He’s 5’9″ and listed at 225, a weight that he reportedly wants (needs?) to drop by 20 lbs.

Callaspo had been a Top-100 prospect as ranked by both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus.  He started in pro ball at the age of 19 in the Diamondbacks organization, debuting in 2007.

Since then, Callaspo has been with the Royals, Angels, A’s, and now the Braves.  His best seasons were from 2009-2012 when he posted 2.0, 1.3, 3.5, and 2.9 fWAR.  In two of those years, he hit over .300.  He has nearly 8 total years of major league service time.

What to Expect

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The Braves picked up Callaspo to play second base, presumably on an everyday basis until such time as

is deemed ready to take over the position for the next six years or so.

Callaspo can do that:  he’s played 127+ games in five different seasons, including 2014.  His defense is okay, though that’s a little tricky to gauge since he can play – and has played – virtually everywhere on the diamond.  About 60% of his innings have been spent at third base with about 30% at second base.  

That fact sets up Fredi Gonzalez with a ton of options.  He now has both Callaspo and Philip Gosselin available to be “super-utility” players.  They can both handle every infield and almost every outfield position, but the experience Callaspo brings to third base is important. In fact, it has been pointed out that if Chris Johnson were traded – and that apparently isn’t completely out of the question – then Callaspo would slide over to the hot corner.

Yes – this news is predicated on the notion that the Giants do not land Jon Lester… and from discussions this afternoon, it sounds like they are battling from behind in that contest now, so this rumor isn’t entirely far-fetched.

But failing a trade, Callaspo is expected to be the opening day second-sacker for probably 5 days a week while spelling Chris Johnson on occasion.

About the Bat

Jun 28, 2014; Oakland Athletics second baseman Alberto Callaspo (7). Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

It’s definitely interesting to see the changes going on in the Braves’ lineup already.  Tuscano is said to be a contact hitter that doesn’t strike out much.  Nick Markakis has generally been reducing his strikeout totals since 2008, and hits for a high-200’s average.  Now Callaspo shows up and he’s never struck out more than 60 times in any season… in fact he often winds up with more walks than K’s.

Such is the Kevin Seitzer schtick.  Seems that the Braves’ brass is trying to make life easy on the new hitting coach by getting him players that already espouse his philosophies of contact hitting, spreading the ball around to all fields, and strike zone management.  Maybe that’ll rub off on some others in the lineup?

Probably none of these news guys – Callaspo included – are going to impress you during BP.  But they’re all probably going to end up getting on base about 35% of the time and putting the ball in play.  Hopefully, Seitzer can get a bit more “drive” into Callaspo’s swing though, since he is almost strictly a singles hitter.  Of 887 lifetime hits, almost 75% are singles though he’s run into 51 dingers.

Being a switch-hitter, he provides yet another option for Gonzalez, especially when he comes off the bench.  Lifetime, he’s hitting .260 from the keft side and .284 from the right, though these numbers have varied wildly over the years.  In 2014, he was part of the Athletics’ offensive meltdown by hitting .223 for the year… most of that fail coming after the All-Star break (though May was also poor).

The Roster Thing

I expect that Atlanta still has 1 or 2 trades to do this week – and this acquisition has one name written all over it:  Tyler Pastornicky.  With both Gosselin and now Callaspo in the mix, he’s now an excess piece on that 40-man list… one that needs some extra empty spots.

The other possibility is that a pitcher might be DFA’d or traded – there are a bunch of them on the list right now.  But for the moment, the most obvious names I could see being removed in the near future are (in this order):  Pastornicky, Elmer Reyes, and Jose Constanza.

Given his 2014 performance, 3 million seems a little steep for Callaspo, despite his prior salaries… but not overly so.  He’s now 2 or 3 years’ removed from a “good” season, but we’ll have to see how this works out.  In the grand scheme, Callaspo is the replacement for Ramiro Pena (who elected for free agency after being DFA’d).

But he’s also intended to be more than that – at least for a while.